


New Dynamics

by kamala_khan_for_president



Series: Life On The Farm-Verse [8]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Field Trip, Fluff, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 12:57:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17142173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kamala_khan_for_president/pseuds/kamala_khan_for_president
Summary: The Avengers and their family get used to life together in the Compound, in whatever form that takes.





	1. Christmas

“That probably won’t be the best idea,” Anya said.

Lila looked over at her from where she was stood in front of Erik’s door, her hand poised ready to knock. “Why not?”

“Lila, it’s barely gone six,” Anya pointed out. “You and your family may enjoy getting up early for Christmas, and have convinced everyone else to join in, but if my Dad doesn’t have a reason to get up early, he gets very grumpy”

“Should we get him later?” Lila asked. Anya nodded. “Okay, I’m going to go get everyone else. Cassie’s helping as well”

Anya smiled as she watched the small girl walk away. It had been just under a year since she and Lorna had met the Avengers and got dragged into the crazy mess that was their family and she couldn’t be happier. Even if it meant been coerced into waking up early for a holiday that she didn’t celebrate. However, she couldn’t say the same about her youngest sister.

Lorna emerged from her room looking dead to the world. Her quilt was still wrapped around her shoulders and her normally neatly braided green hair resembled a bird’s nest. She locked eyes with Anya and immediately scowled. “It is the school holidays, yet here I am, forced out of bed earlier than I ever would be by choice. And why is that?”

“Because Lila woke you up and that girl has got you wrapped around her little finger, much like everyone else,” Anya answered.

“Fair point,” Lorna replied. She pulled the quilt tighter around her shoulders. “I’m keeping the quilt though”

***

Everyone, except for Erik, slowly trickled into the room. Bruce was yawning as he walked in, Oksana held against his side. He stopped and stared at the shapeless blob of bedding on one of the sofas.

“Do I want to know what that is?” he asked.

A hand shot out from the blob and pulled part of the quilt to the side, revealing a half asleep Lorna Dane. “That would be me,” she said, glowering slightly.

“What are you doing?” Bruce asked.

“I couldn’t stay in bed, so I brought it with me,” she answered.

Bruce shrugged. “That’s fair, mind if we sit with you?”

Lorna shuffled over, dragging the quilt with her. Bruce sat down, leaving space for Natasha. She was one of the last to arrive, followed only by Cassie and Lila who had been doing rounds of the bedrooms to make sure that everyone else had come into the living room. The two girls pushed past everyone to sit at the front of the tree.

“So,” Lila started. “Can we start on the presents now?”

***

It had been half an hour and they’d barely made a dent in the pile under the tree.

“There’s a lot more than last year,” Sam joked.

“Well, last year, I was limited by how much I could fit in the car with four people’s luggage,” Tony explained. “This year however, I had no limits at all. So I may have gone what other people would call ‘overboard’”

“I’ll give him a limit next year,” Pepper promised. “And this isn’t even it. There’s more for when May and Peter arrive later”

“Tony, why?” Laura asked. He shrugged, making Laura roll her eyes.

Bucky pulled two more parcels out from underneath the tree. He passed one to Bruce and Natasha and the other to Scott and Hope. “These are from me and Steve”

The two couples both opened the presents, with Bucky watching them intently, Steve sat behind him.

Natasha looked down at the present and then gave Bucky a deadpan look. She held up the Hulk and Black Widow baby onesies. “Which one of you thought of these?”

“I would also like to know,” Scott asked. Hope was sat next to him giggling at the Ant-Man and the Wasp onesies.

“It was Bucky,” Steve answered. “We were out shopping, and he saw them in a baby wear store that we were walking past. I’m surprised none of the gossip websites started anything over it considering the fact that Bucky dragged me in there like a man on a mission”

“No, I think I saw something about that,” Lorna added from her quilt, which she still she refused to emerge from. Her hands disappeared back into her quilt. A few moments later, her hands reappeared with her phone open on a page from one of the gossip websites. She handed it over to Steve.

“These people really will make a full length article over anything,” Steve laughed. “Can a couple not buy anything for their friends with kids without rumours starting anymore?”

“Not if you’re both Avengers,” Bruce answered, getting a laugh from everyone else.

Steve reached under the tree and pulled out another present. He read the label and passed the present over to Nadia.

“Who’s this for?” she asked, getting ready to pass it on.

“It’s for you,” Steve answered.

The girl looked confused. “But how? I got here literally two days ago”

“And next day delivery got here yesterday,” Hope explained. She elbowed her younger sister lightly in the side. “Now hurry up and open it”

Nadia smiled lightly as she pulled the wrapping paper back on the present. She grinned when she saw the laptop box.

“I thought that a teenager these days would definitely want something to access the internet with,” Hope said. “There’s a phone under there somewhere as well”

“You didn’t have to do this,” Nadia replied.

“Just because I didn’t have to doesn’t mean that I can’t,” Hope argued.

Nadia grinned at her. “Fine, but I didn’t get you anything”

“You can pay me back in free babysitting,” Hope joked.

“Sure,” Nadia agreed.

“I was joking,” Hope said.

“I wasn’t. I’m down for babysitting anytime you need me”

“Hope don’t argue with her,” Scott interjected. “Just remember this conversation in a year’s time. We’ll want the free babysitting through family obligation then”

***

“Hey everyone,” Peter said as he walked through the doors of the Compound, May and Happy walking behind him.

“Ah, Peter, just in time,” Tony said.

Happy looked at the maniacal look on Tony’s face. “Boss, what have you gotten planned?”

“FRIDAY send in the sleigh,” Tony ordered. Everyone looked around waiting for something to happen. “This could take a few minutes; the storage room is quite far off”

***

The faint sound of Jingle Bells began to fill the room. Tony snickered.

Pepper sighed and turned to her husband. “Tony, what have you done?”

“Just give it a second,” Tony answered. The sound of the music got louder as whatever was making the noise got closer. A few seconds later, there was the sound of something hitting the doors to the living areas. Tony sighed. He jumped up and ran to the door and pushed it open. “Seriously DUM-E, can you not even get through a door?”

The sound of the music got even louder as the robot made its way through the door. A Santa hat was on DUM-E’s head and it was dragging a cart full of presents.

“Is this the sleigh that you told FRIDAY to send in?” Peter asked.

 “Yes, it is,” Tony answered. “Merry Christmas Parkers, would you like your presents?”

***

Tony, Pepper, Bucky and Laura were out in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches to the Christmas dinner.

“Bucky, can you get the stuffing out of the oven?” Laura asked.

“Sure,” he replied. He reached into the oven and grabbed the dish, causing Tony to scream in horror. “What’s wrong?” Bucky asked as he quickly placed the dish down and grabbed a knife.

“Don’t get things out of the oven without oven gloves on,” Tony answered.

Bucky waved his fake hand in Tony’s face. “My arm is literally made out of vibranium. I can’t feel anything in it and it can’t get hurt.” A mischievous grin spread over his face. “I didn’t know you cared”

“I don’t,” Tony scoffed. “I just don’t want your boyfriend lecturing me because I let you get hurt. It’s Christmas, I don’t have time for that”

“Can you guys stop bickering and actually help us finish cooking?” Laura ordered.

Both men muttered an apology and went back to working on the dinner. A few minutes later, Bucky went to get the turkey out of the oven.

“Be careful,” Tony instructed. “That’s going to need both hands to get it out the oven. You’ll need to put an oven glove on one hand”

“I’ll show you where to put an oven glove,” Bucky muttered under his breath. Tony glared at him, but Laura gave him a discrete high five.

***

Erik walked into the room, finally dressed and ready to face the world.

Lorna smirked. “Well, look what the cat dragged in”

Erik gave his daughter a scolding look as he sat down next to her at the dinner table. “There’s no need to be rude Lorna”

“I thought you weren’t joining us today,” Wanda said.

“I wasn’t planning on it, but the food smelt really good,” Erik answered.

Soon everyone was sat down, and the food was being served.

“So, this has been a bit of a weird year,” Clint said at one of the table.

“What was that?” T’Challa said from the other end. “I can’t hear you down here”

“What?” Clint yelled back.

The two men carried on yelling back and forth from either end of the now overly long and crowded dinner table.

Loki leaned over to her brother. “I think this could on for a while brother”

“I believe that you’re right”

Loki grinned and sipped her drink. “I never though I’d say this, but I’m actually glad to be staying with your friends. We may have thought in the past, and Banner may have used me as a hammer, but they are a rather amusing source of entertainment”

Thor laughed heartily. “That they are, but I am glad that you are getting on with them now. Although we will be living with the rest of our people, we will not be far and will see them often”

“Not too often, right?”

“Don’t worry, you won’t have to see them if you don’t want to”

“Good, I like them, but I refuse to get attached like you have”

***

“Time for the annual game of Cards Against Humanity,” Shuri announced. “But this year, we have more teens, and Anya, and I have banned my brother. I’m glad we were able to find a free room, but why was it the dance studio, since when did we have a dance studio and why do we have a dance studio?”

“I can’t answer any of these questions,” Wanda answered.

There was a light knock at the door. Wanda, Anya, Lorna, Shuri and Peter all looked over from where they were sat in a circle on the floor. Lorna sprang to her feet and ran over to the door. She opened it slightly before throwing it wide open.

Loki walked into the room. “I was told you were all playing a card game that meant being as awful a person as possible”

“Basically,” Lorna replied. “You want in”

Loki grinned. “Sounds fun, so how do I play?”

***

Natasha rocked Oksana against her, bouncing lightly as she paced the room. The baby’s face was pressed into her shoulder and Natasha’s hand was cupping the back of her head. She turned to face Bruce.

“Is she asleep yet?” she whispered.

Bruce moved over to the two of them and stood close to Oksana’s face. He saw her eyes were closed and heard the sound of her steady and consistent breathing. “I think she’s asleep”

Natasha sighed and lowered the baby into her cot. She paused and held her breath, praying that her daughter wouldn’t wake up at the sudden loss of her mother’s warmth. After a few moments, she crept away and collapsed into bed.

Bruce grinned and dropped down next to her. He reached over and turned off the bedside light off, plunging the room into darkness. “How much longer do you think until we move her into her own room?”

Natasha groaned. “She’s four months old, we should give it a few more weeks”

“Good point,” Bruce replied. “It’s been one year today since you first told me about her”

Natasha smiled. “Been a good year hasn’t it?”

“It has. Do you think she’ll actually sleep through the night?”

“If she does, it’ll be a Christmas miracle”


	2. The New Tour Guide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Midtown visit the Avengers Compound because I love tropes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *appears from out of the void* hi

“This is going to be terrible,” Peter whined. He threw himself back in his seat on the school bus and accepted his fate.

“It’s a school trip to the Avengers Compound, I thought you’d love this,” Ned said.

Peter glared at him. “I’m there all the time and I don’t have to put up with Flash”

“At least he knows that the internship is real,” MJ added. “He won’t spend the entire time bugging you or anyone else about it”

“Great, now I just have the rest of the Avengers to worry about,” Peter complained.

“Let’s be real, the only real issue would be Tony, and Pepper has booked him meetings that’ll take up his whole day and they’re not at the Compound,” Lorna added. “I heard them talking before I left the house this morning. You’ll be safe and this will be a perfectly normal field trip”

“And you’ve jinxed it,” Peter groaned.

MJ lightly hit Peter in the shoulder. “Stop being so negative”

***

The class was gathered in the entrance to the visitor’s centre at the Compound, waiting for their tour guide to arrive. The teacher was handing out visitor passes to the group, except to MJ, Ned, Lorna and Peter, who all had their own passes already. Peter spotted someone coming through a door from the main building. She was wearing one of the t-shirts the guides were made to wear, as well as the ridiculous baseball cap that most were thankful was optional. Peter caught a glance of the mischievous look on her face as she surveyed the room.

“Hey, Lorna, you definitely jinxed it,” he laughed, pointing out the tour guide.

Lorna followed his gaze. “Shit”

“Attention Midtown,” the woman yelled. “My name is Wanda Maximoff-Barton and I will be your tour guide for today”

MJ, Peter and Ned all tried to suppress their laughter at the horrified look on Lorna’s face.

“This is bad,” Lorna muttered. “This wasn’t meant to be awkward for me. This was meant to be fun. I hate my sister”

“No, this is going to be fun,” Peter corrected. “Just not for you, for me. And Wanda it seems”

“Why is an Avenger doing the tour?” Flash asked.

Wanda shot him a look. “Because everyone else is busy and I was bored. Is there a problem with that Flash?”

Flash shifted uncomfortably as his friends started snickering at him. “No”

“Wait, how do you know Flash?” one of his friends asked.

“I was at a friend’s house and he was there being an asshole,” Wanda explained as if it was nothing.

“Can confirm, I was there,” Cindy added, the playful tone in her voice making it obvious how much she was enjoying watching Flash embarrassed by Wanda.

“This is brilliant,” Peter whispered to his friends.

“No,” Lorna hissed. “This is awful. The only reason I am able to get by at school is that no one knows that I'm related to an Avenger. This is going to be terrible. Flash is already bad enough, but if everyone else finds out... no. I refuse to let anything bad happen”

“I think your sister has other ideas,” Peter joked.

“No shit Spider-Man,” Lorna muttered.

“Okay,” Wanda yelled over the chatter. “If you’d like to follow me, we’ll start the tour”

The rest of the Aca Dec team hung back as the group began to follow Wanda out of the room, leaving them all at the back with Lorna and the others.

“What the hell Dane, why didn’t you tell me that your sister was leading this tour?” Flash demanded.

“I didn’t know!” Lorna protested. “Believe me, if I had known, I would’ve just stayed home. There is no reason to put myself through this”

“But you’d still be here. You live here Lorna,” Peter said. “Lorna, you live here”

“And so does my bed,” Lorna added. “Which is where I would be”

“As if your Dad would let you,” Ned joked.

MJ snorted with laughter. “I would be more scared of Anya than Erik”

***

The group’s first stop was at an exhibit in the main visitor’s centre, the room filled with glass cases containing older versions of the Avengers suits as well as souvenirs collected from some bigger battles. They were given twenty minutes to look around the room while Wanda chatted with the teachers supervising the trip.

Lorna was wandering around with Peter, MJ and Ned when she spotted a bright blue and red suit in one of the cases. She whacked Peter in the arm repeatedly in excitement. “Did you know that Tony and May took your suit?”

Peter followed her gaze and groaned when he saw the suit. “They made me give them that suit when they gave my proper one back so that I wouldn’t use it again if I had my real one taken one off me again. I didn’t realise they were displaying it”

“I thought you had an internship Parker,” one of Flash’s friends, Dave Morris, taunted. “Surely you would have been down here before.” He turned to face MJ, Ned and Lorna. “And why do you guys have high access passes? Did you bring fakes with you?”

“Knock it off Morris,” Flash warned. “There’s no need to be an asshole”

“You’re sticking up for them?” Morris laughed. “This is new for you”

“I do have an internship, I just don’t work in this area, that’s why I’ve never seen this display,” Peter interrupted. “And they’re here with me a lot, that’s why they have passes”

Morris looked like he was going to say something else, but Flash pushed him away towards another display. Flash shot Lorna, Peter, MJ and Ned an apologetic look.

“Was Flash actually being nice to us?” Lorna asked.

“He’s been less of an ass since he found out that you actually do have an internship,” Cindy explained. The group turned around, having not heard her walk up behind them. “And I’m pretty sure he knows that Lorna was in Genosha last September”

“So the guy has grown a sense of moral decency at long last?” MJ jokingly asked. The rest of the group laughed, except for Lorna, who was watching Flash and his friends.

“No, don’t do that,” she muttered to herself. The looked over to see Flash and his friends by a display case containing a suit that they hadn’t seen before. A few feet away was a case containing the remnants of the first Iron Legion suit that Ultron ever inhabited.

“What’s that?” Cindy said pointing to the suit.

Lorna didn’t respond, she just stormed off towards the group of boys. She stood between them and the suit. Her arms were folded across her chest and had an incredibly angry look on her face. She was managing to extremely threatening, despite the fact that she was at least a foot shorter than Morris and a couple of the others in the group.

“You got a problem Dane?” asked Morris, who was quickly becoming Peter’s least favourite person.

“Yeah I do actually,” Lorna replied. “Why are you making fun of this suit?”

Morris laughed. “What’s it to do with you?” Lorna glared at Morris and stood on her tiptoes to get more in this face. “Fine, well, who is the suit even meant to be for? It doesn’t match any of the other designs. And it’s covered in blood for some reason”

Lorna reached up and hit Morris round the back of the head. “If you bothered to read the sign, you’d see that this suit belonged to someone who died in Sokovia. He joined the team the day before and was killed in action”

“Well then how come none of us have ever heard of him?” Morris asked.

“Mate, just shut up,” Flash said.

Morris glared and Flash and walked away. Most of the group followed him, leaving Flash with the Aca Dec team.

Cindy grimaced. “They seem to have ditched you. Sorry about that”

“They’ve been getting worse and worse recently,” Flash sighed. “They’re just looking for excuses to start a fight. Still, could’ve been worse. At least there isn’t anything here to do with what happened in Genosha. That wouldn’t have been fair on you.” Lorna and Peter exchanged a look. “What?”

“Wanda was a twin,” Lorna explained nodding to the suit. “That was his suit”

“You had a brother?” Ned asked, shocked.

“I never met him,” Lorna answered. “He died three years before I even found Wanda”

“I’m sorry,” Flash apologised. “I should’ve stopped them. That wasn’t fair”

“You didn’t know,” Lorna said. “It’s not as hard for me, given that I never met him. But at least Wanda didn’t see them. I don’t think we have insurance for students being obliterated by the Scarlet Witch”

“Would it not come under miscellaneous superhero incidents?” Peter asked. “Pepper told me that she managed to get a clause in the contract”

“Pepper Potts is a badass,” Cindy said. “And that totally should fall under miscellaneous superhero incidents”

“Okay everyone,” Wanda yelled. “We need to get going. If you can follow me, we’ll go to our next stop on the tour”

Everyone followed after Wanda as they continued through the Compound. Lorna was at the back of the group, sulking slightly as she went. Peter, Ned and MJ dropped back so they were walking alongside her.

“You know, you can always use your powers to subtly get revenge on them at school,” MJ suggested. “Break the locks on their lockers, throw their pens on the floor or make them slip across the page”

Lorna grinned. “I can keep breaking their phones. Maybe I’ll start with a small EMP and then destroy the circuitry”

“Slightly more destructive than what I suggested, but valid still,” MJ laughed. “But you better wait until we get back to school. If you do it here, then Wanda will notice what you’re up to”

Wanda led everyone out of the Visitor’s Centre and towards the Stark Industries building. They went up a flight of stairs and into a lab. Peter recognised it immediately as Tony’s private lab. It felt unusual to enter the lab from the Stark Industries entrance rather than through the private corridors that connected all the buildings at the Compound to each other.

“This is Tony Stark’s private lab,” Wanda introduced. “I would just like to remind you that this room is monitored by cameras and AI and you have all signed documents saying that you will be held responsible for any damages you cause whilst in the Avengers Compound, and everything in this room is incredibly expensive, so for your own sake, don’t touch anything.” She looked around the room at the tech left laying around the lab on the tables. “At this point, I would normally hand over to the head scientist of the lab so they could explain what work they are doing, but unfortunately Tony Stark isn’t in today”

“Of course we don’t get to meet Tony Stark,” Morris muttered. He elbowed one of his friends in his side. “Hey, we now have something in common with Parker. We’ve been to the Avengers Compound, but we still haven’t met Tony Stark”

Peter rolled his eyes at the comments made by the others.

“But we do have the next best thing,” Wanda continued. “We actually have Tony Stark’s personal intern who works in this very lab with him”

Peter could tell where this was going and couldn’t help but laugh slightly at how she was setting him up in front of the class. Of course she was, she knew that many people in his class didn’t believe that he actually had an internship, much less one with a position so high up in at the Compound.

Wanda shot Peter and grin and beckoned him up to the front. “I’m sure you all already know Peter Parker, who is now going to take you through some of the projects that he has been working on with Tony Stark in this very lab.” As Peter walked up to the front, Wanda pulled a spare tour guide’s hat from under the desk and placed it on his head.

“Did you hide that here earlier?” Peter asked. “Just for this occasion?”

I came here on my way down to the Visitor’s Centre,” Wanda answered. “Now put the hat on and get on with the tour”

Peter sighed and the hat on. “So…” he said as he started to explain some of the projects he’d been working on.

***

“What’s that one?” Morris asked. Peter suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at Morris’s interruption and turned to look at what Morris was pointing at. A small piece of red fabric was poking out of a drawer on the side of a work desk. “That is, erm, that is confidential.” He started edging around the room towards the desk. He shot Wanda a panicked look.

Wanda jumped to her feet and ran to the front of the group. “So, we are actually out of time in this area now, so if you can all stand up and head out of the lab. Once we’re all out there, we’ll head to the canteen for lunch”

As everyone left the room, Peter rushed over to the drawer and shoved the prototype fabric for a new version of the Spider-Man suit back inside the drawer like he was probably meant to in the first place. He rushed after the rest of the group and caught up with Lorna, MJ and Ned before they went back down the stairs. Lorna was on her phone, looking for something on google.

“Good job at hiding the suit,” MJ jokingly complimented.

Lorna held her phone out to Peter. She pulled a picture of a yellow star that had been badly drawn in MS paint with “there was an attempt” written over the top in comic sans.

Peter groaned. “I hate all of you”

***

Peter, Ned, MJ and Lorna were all sat in one corner of the canteen as they ate their lunch when another tray was slammed down on the table in the seat opposite Lorna. The group looked up to see a very annoyed Nadia sitting down.

“What’s wrong?” Peter asked.

“That stupid lawyer and that stupid judge,” Nadia complained. “We just got back from the courthouse”

“They didn’t try and deny you your citizenship, did they?” Lorna said.

Nadia shook her head. “I got my citizenship, but the judge didn’t have to be an asshole. On the paperwork, I had to fill out they needed a surname and I didn’t know what to do. I had a minor panic attack and had to leave the room for a bit”

“I thought that you already had a surname, Pym,” Ned added.

“That was my Dad’s surname,” Nadia explained. “Obviously that the most obvious one for me to take, but I never met him. I don’t really have a real connection to the name. Same with my Mom’s”

“You’re killing us, Nadia, what named did you take?” Lorna jokingly asked.

“Van Dyne,” Nadia answered with a smile. “The same as my sister. But that isn’t the end of it. When we got back, my lawyer was still being an asshole, also annoyed with me for having a panic attack. And then he found out that Natasha’s visa technically expired after S.H.I.E.L.D. fell, so now he’s taken on her case as well. He was talking with and he straight up accused them of faking their relationship to get Natasha citizenship”

“They have a fucking child together,” Lorna laughed. “Did he really claim they had a kid, something neither of them thought they could do just so that on the off chance that they could return to the Compound Natasha could get US citizenship?”

“Obviously they did, why else would a couple want a baby?” Ned asked.

“Because they want to start a family?” Lorna suggested. Everyone looked at each other in silence for a few seconds before bursting out laughing.

“Don’t be ridiculous, according to Nadia’s lawyer nobody does that,” MJ pointed out.

Nadia laughed louder. “Ah, what a dickhead”

***

Nadia decided to tag along with the tour. Despite having lived at the Compound for over a month now, she still hadn’t seen the whole place.

“And this is the room that the Avengers train in,” Wanda introduced as they walked through the door. “Be very careful as a lot of this equipment is specialised for enhanced individuals and is not safe for other people to use”

“Seriously, don’t,” Lorna warned. She shot Morris and his friends a look. “Take it from someone who learned the hard way that the gym equipment is designed for Captain America and Thor. It is not worth the injuries trust me”

“What happened?” one of the teachers asked.

“Knocked myself out when I went flying off the back of a treadmill,” Lorna explained.

“Why were you even using the equipment?” someone else asked.

“I was bored,” Lorna answered.

“Why were you even here?” Morris asked.

Lorna froze, not sure what excuse she could come up with to explain her way out of this. She muttered something under her breath in Sokovian.

“Language,” Wanda chastised in her best, but still not that good, impression of Steve. Everyone turned to look at her. “Sorry, we all make fun of Steve for that so much that it’s become a natural reflex”

“She didn’t even swear,” Morris argued. “She just said a load of gibberish”

“Listen, Sokovian may be a weird language with so many irregular words that it puts English to shame, but that does not make it gibberish,” Lorna snapped back.

“What she said,” Wanda added.

“Why do you even speak Sokovian?” Morris asked.

“Because my half-sisters’ are Sokovian”

“Who are your half-sisters?”

Wanda raised her hand just as Lorna pointed at her.

“Oh,” Morris said, sounding defeated.

Lorna turned to face the rest of the group. “And to answer the earlier question, I was here because I literally live here. Any more questions?” A load of hands shot up. “That was rhetorical”

“Moving on with the tour,” Wanda announced. She led the group out of the room. “We have one stop left on the tour. We don’t normally take people here, but I was given special instructions to bring you guys here.” She turned back to look at the group. “Thank god this is a small group. This place is already beginning to feel overcrowded”

“Wait, Wanda, where are we going?” Lorna asked. “Wanda, where are going? Where are going, Wanda? Wanda? Wanda?!”

Wanda didn’t answer her sister, just carried on walking. She led the group out of the training and medical centre and across the courtyard towards the main Avengers building. They went indoors and instead of heading towards the press centre and storage rooms like Lorna thought they would, they went upstairs. They walked down a long corridor with full-length windows on one side towards a set of doors. Wanda led them through the doors and into the Avenger’s private residential area.

Peter and Ned shot each other a worried look. They tried to catch Lorna’s eye, but it seemed she had given up on this being a normal school trip. She stalked away from the group, dumped her bag on the floor and threw herself down on the sofa.

“Miss Dane, you are required to stay with the group,” a teacher scolded.

“I know,” Lorna replied. “That’s why I didn’t go to my room.” She looked down a corridor stretching away from the main room. “Although it appears that Nadia has other ideas”

The doors opened again, and Bucky Barnes walked into the room. He stopped when he saw the group of students, all staring back at him in star-struck awe.

Lorna took advantage of the distraction and beckoned for Peter, MJ, Ned, Cindy and Flash to come sit next to her on the sofas.

“What are you guys doing here?” Bucky demanded.

“They’re on a school trip,” Wanda explained. She pointed to the tour guide’s hat which she still wore. “I’m showing them around. I was told to bring them here, although I have no idea why”

“And why not?”

Peter audibly groaned in annoyance when he heard that voice. It was unmistakably Tony’s voice. He shot Lorna an accusing look as Tony sauntered into the room. “I thought you said he wouldn’t be here today?”

“I thought he wasn’t,” Lorna said in defence. “He must have escaped Pepper’s meetings somehow”

“Oh my god, it’s Iron Man,” Morris gushed as he looked at Tony in wonder.

“Oh, here we go,” Flash muttered. Cindy shot him a confused look. “He’s a bit of a Stark fanboy, but kind of like a weird mix of what he’s done as Iron Man and how he was before. You know, the alcoholic playboy that built bombs”

“You’ve surprised me today with all this you’ve been saying against your friends,” MJ said.

Flash shrugged. “I guess I’ve just seen what big assholes they all are”

“Takes one to know one,” Lorna muttered. She carried on before Flash could respond. “And Tony’s not like that anymore. He hardly ever drinks anymore. The last time he got drunk was New Years’ and all he did was cry about how much he loves his friends”

Peter snorted. “That was funny”

“It is lovely to meet you Midtown,” Tony said to the group. He shot a quick glance at Morris and his friends. “Well, most of you anyway”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Morris asked, looking quite taken back.

“My AI FRIDAY was keeping me updated on how the tour was going and she had a lot to say about you, none of it very good,” Tony answered. “You don’t have much respect for the dead”

Wanda shot Lorna a confused look.

“He was being an asshole in front the display about Pietro,” Lorna explained.

Wanda removed the tour guide’s hat and flipped off Morris. She placed the hat back on her head, switching back to her role as an official member of the Avengers Compound staff instead of a pissed off sister.

“So, if you were after an internship or a job or anything like that, I'd recommend you try what’s left of Hammer Tech,” Tony said.

Morris scowled and took a defeated step back as the rest of the class laughed at their classmate’s expense. He shot them a dirty look, not noticing that the group on the sofa practically crying with laughter.

 As Tony continued taking questions from the class, Peter leaned over to talk to Cindy and Flash. “Hey, what are you two doing after school?” he whispered.

“Nothing much, why?” Cindy answered.

“Do you want to stay back here?” Peter offered.

Cindy grinned. “Hell yeah, that sounds great”

“What about you, Flash?” Peter asked.

Flash looked confused. “You want _me_ to stay as well?”

“Sure,” Lorna said. “You’re not as annoying as you were now that you've realised that your friends were assholes. I’d even go as far as to say that you’re tolerable now”

“I’d take the compliment if I were you,” Ned added. “That’s probably the best you’ll ever get out of her. She hardly ever that nice to anyone other than her sisters”

“Okay,” Flash agreed. He rolled his eyes at the look Peter was giving him. “I’ll stay. Although, I would like to say that this has been a very weird day”

“This has actually been relatively normal by our standards,” Peter argued.

“What happens on a weird day?” Cindy asked.

Lorna shuddered slightly. “I’m not sure you want to know”

***

The group were sat on the edge of the wall in Lorna’s favourite spot on the roof watching the school bus carry the rest of their classmates away from the Compound.

“Good riddance,” Lorna yelled as the bus pulled out of the gate.

“Especially to Morris,” Flash added.

“Hell yeah,” Cindy laughed.

“We’re going to have to ask Happy to make them new passes, aren’t we?” Peter said.

Lorna groaned. “He’s going to love that”

Cindy looked confused. “What’s wrong with asking Happy for new passes?”

“He’s the head of security at the Compound and he has a thing about printing people new passes,” Peter explained.

“Which is not helped by the fact that my Dad keeps losing his,” Lorna added.

The roof access door opened as Anya walked out onto the roof. “Are you six going to stay out here for much longer?” she asked. “Dinner’s almost done and if you don’t come back down, Sam and Bucky can and will eat your food”

Lorna slid off the wall and back onto the roof, dashing over to join her sister. “She’s not kidding, if you guys want to eat, you’d better come now”

Peter, MJ, Ned, Cindy and Flash hurried after the sisters towards the kitchen, for what was going to be one of the most interesting meals that they’d have in their lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bye *disappears back into the void*


	3. Meet the X-Men

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [generic excuse for not updating for months]
> 
> But seriously, sorry for not updating for so long. I only really had the motivation to do post-Endgame stuff for a while and then I had A-Level exams. I did admittedly try and start another couple of different chapters, but neither of them seemed to work. Please accept my apologies and this chapter

“This would be a lot better with Hope, Scott and Nadia here,” Tony muttered to Steve as they stood by the entrance to the main building of the Compound.

“They said they had urgent business to attend to in San Francisco,” Erik explained as he approached the pair. “Something to do with Hope’s mom.” Steve and Tony exchanged a look. “What?”

“Hope’s mom is dead,” Steve explained. “Has been since she was very young”

Erik shrugged slightly. “Well, that’s definitely what they said.” As he finished speaking, a minibus pulled around to the entrance of the building. A short man with dark hair moved to the back of the minivan and lowered a ramp, allowing a bald man in a wheelchair out of the minibus. “Good to see you, Charles,” Erik said.

The man, Charles, smiled. “Good to see you too, old friend,” Charles greeted. “I’m surprised that you were sent out here to be part of the welcoming party”

“I insisted, didn’t want to miss out on the first official meeting of the Avengers and X-Men,” Erik replied. “Was Logan really the only one you brought with you?”

Charles raised one eyebrow and looked back at the minibus as two women climbed out. “As if I would”

Erik smiled when he recognised the two women. “Ororo, Emma, it’s good to see you both again. And I have to ask, why did you come in a school minibus?”

Emma rolled her eyes. “Slight incident at the school yesterday. Long story short, this is currently the only working vehicle we have”

“Sounds about right,” Erik laughed. “No Scott and Jean? Unusual for you to go somewhere without those two”

“Someone has to be in charge,” Charles replied.

“And you left Jean, good choice,” Erik said. “Not sure about Scott”

“Are we going to stay here all day or are we going in?” Tony asked. Steve rolled his eyes at his friend but opened the door, allowing the X-Men into the Compound.

“How are the girls doing?” Charles asked. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen them”

“They’re doing better than they had been, especially after what happened last September,” Erik replied. He and Emma shared a look as they kept walking, neither wanting to bring up Genosha by name. “And now you mention it, can I just apologise in advance for Lorna?”

Just as Charles was about to ask Erik what he meant the group walked into the living areas of the Compound. Lorna was lounging over the arm of a sofa, using Anya as a backrest. Emma suppressed a laugh when she saw Lorna was wearing a t-shirt with “Magneto was right” written in large bright writing on the front. Wanda and Shuri were wearing matching t-shirts.

Shuri grinned when she saw them arrive. “Sup Ororo, what do you think of the t-shirts? Hey, T’Challa, your ex-wife is one of the X-Men they sent”

“It’s very nice to see you again, Shuri,” Charles greeted, choosing to ignore Ororo’s light laughter and the horrified look on T’Challa’s face.

“You know each other?” Emma asked.

“She, Lorna and Wanda all stayed at the school for a few months last year,” Charles answered. “Best, and only, non-mutant student we’ve ever had. And occasional stand-in science teacher”

“There’s a boarding school that’s willing to take Shuri?” T’Challa asked. “I may have to tell our mother about that next time she’s up to no good.” He laughed slightly as Nakia hit him lightly in the arm.

“Well, she’ll always be welcome back if she so chooses,” Charles replied. “Nice t-shirt Lorna”

The teenager grinned at him. “Thanks, I made the design myself”

“They’re available on the internet,” Logan added. Everyone turned to look at him. “My daughter, Laura showed me”

“And who do you think sent her the link?” Lorna asked. “I’m the one that’s selling them”

“I believe we had some official business to discuss in order to keep Secretary Ross happy and away from the school,” Rhodey interrupted, deciding to steer the conversation back to the business at hand before Lorna could distract them further. He directed the group towards the meeting room, and everyone crowded inside.

As they were sitting down, Erik couldn’t help but notice that Emma had somehow managed to swap out the blouse of her sleek white business suit with a “Magneto was right” t-shirt. Erik raised one eyebrow at her, earning a disinterested shrug in response. Lorna smirked as the meeting began, planning who next to target with a t-shirt.

Rhodey sighed as he and Steve went through the list of points given to them for the meeting by Ross. The pair exchanged a look.

“Is something wrong?” Charles asked.

“It’s nothing,” Steve reassured. “Just Ross has been rather, erm, thorough with what he wants us to discuss.” He looked at the number of pages in the document they’d been sent. “I’m not sure how long he thought this visit was meant to last, but we’re sure as hell not going to get through this all today”

“We can at least make a start,” Ororo said. “What’s the first order of business?”

“Where do the X-Men stand on members being available to join the Avengers for missions when needed?” Rhodey read off the page.

“None of the students,” Emma immediately responded. “Seen enough children die in a war zone already, I’m not sending any of ours in”

“What about the ones that work with the Mutant Underground?” Lorna asked. “I get not letting them join the Avengers, but you can’t mean that they have to stop helping there. John, Clarice, Sonya and Marcos have spent the last two and half years working move mutants from states that aren’t as accepting to areas where they’re going to be safer, they’re not going to be happy if you try and get them to stop”

“We won’t try and stop them,” Logan replied. “Especially not those four. That’s not something that any of us are stupid enough to try and stop them”

“And we’ll be willing to help them,” Clint offered.

Charles turned to look at him. “And why’s that?”

“They’re doing good work, something that we’d all like to support them in,” Clint answered. “And besides, they helped protect my daughter, and her friends, and get her across the country safely. The Accords may have dropped, but not everyone was ready for the Avengers back again. Helping them is the least we can do after all that they did”

“Speaking of the Mutant Underground, one of the things Ross mentioned is that he wants information on the activity of the Underground,” Rhodey added. “Shame I have no idea what he’s talking about.” He ripped the page out of the document Ross had given them and threw it into the bin. “Nobody ever tell him about that”

“Because we’re known for being truthful to Secretary Ross,” Lorna said dryly, earning a small laugh from the rest of the room.

Tony leaned over and pointed to something at the end of the document Rhodey and Steve had opened between them. “According to this, we don’t have to actually discuss anything on this list, these are just suggestions. I think we’ll get a lot more done if we just ignore Ross’s instructions altogether.” He grabbed the document and attempted to throw it towards the bin with a showy toss. It hit the side of the bin before dropping to the floor with a quiet thud.

Clint reached down and picked up the document and calmly placed it inside the bin. “How about from now on, we leave the trick shots to me, okay?”

Rhodey sniggered, much to Tony’s horror as he tried to out-glare Clint. Clint merely shrugged and turned his attention back to the meeting.

“Now that’s gotten rid of his influence, let’s get back to the meeting at hand,” Steve said. “If the X-Men are willing to lend members when the Avengers need support, then that’s great. If not, then we’ll cope. And the same the other way around; if the X-Men need our help, we’re happy to be there”

“I think that’s an agreement that both teams will be able to work with,” Charles agreed. No one in the room seemed to disagree. “Well, that covers most of it. Does anyone else have any other points they want to bring up?”

“I’m not surrendering any information unless I have a guarantee that it’s not going to find its way to Secretary Ross, but I do think it would quite interesting to swap a full list of what powers each team has to their disposal,” Emma suggested.

“Please, like we’ve ever given Ross a full list of our firepower,” Natasha laughed. “And don’t worry about the students. Ross is already trying to go after Oksana, what with her father being the Hulk, and we’ve got a whole system in place to stop him, a legal system and a security system, and we can make those systems available to you the second you say you need them”

“Thanks and I would like to personally say that if you need anyone to pay him a visit and tell him to stay away, then I am more than willing to do so,” Logan offered. “I know what it’s like to have a kid go through that shit, wouldn’t wish that on anyone else”

“Thank you,” Bruce replied. He shared a look with Natasha. “And we may take you up on that offer sooner or later”

“What are you hiding from Ross, if you don’t mind me asking,” Ororo said.

“We have connections with the Young Avengers and the Champions that he doesn’t know about and will not be finding out about,” Wanda replied, a protective tone to her voice. “Not if I can help it”

“Sounds personal,” Charles commented. “We’ve heard claims that there are members of the Young Avengers and the Champions that claim to be from the future, same with a young girl working in the Mutant Underground. Do you know anything from your connections about this?”

“I’d just like to clarify that this family has never been known to be normal,” Lorna started. “But there are members of both teams and someone at the Mutant Underground from the future and they’re related to us. That’s our connection with the Young Avengers and the Champions”

“At this point, I feel like I shouldn’t really be surprised with you lot,” Charles said with a slight roll of his eyes.

“Even the blue girl from the Underground?” Logan asked.

Wanda smiled softly. “TJ. And yes, even her”

“Am I the only one here that feels like all that was all the official business that Ross wanted us to get through?” Clint asked. A few murmurs of agreement sounded from around the room. “That took a lot less time than thought, especially once we got rid of that bloody document”

“Looks like we didn’t have to abandon Laura, Maggie and Paxton with the kids for the whole day after all,” Pepper joked. She looked at the time. “The meeting’s done, but you have taken the whole day off to be here, would you like to stay for lunch?”

“That would be lovely, thank you,” Charles agreed. The group left the meeting room and made their way towards the large kitchen-living area where Laura, Maggie and Paxton were watching the children.

Oksana looked over and let out an excited squeak when she saw her parents. She pulled herself up from where she was sat on the floor, grasping onto the cushions of the sofa for support. She tried to take a few shaky steps towards Natasha and Bruce before she began to lose her balance.

Natasha dashed forwards and grabbed her daughter before she could fall. She scooped up the little girl and balanced her on her hip. “Almost there, weren’t you?” She pressed a kiss to the side of the girl’s head.

Ororo cooed at the sight of the baby. “Oh, she’s so sweet. Makes a change to the children we have at the school; we never get them this young. How old is she?”

“She’ll be a year in a couple of weeks,” Natasha answered. She tucked back a loose lock of Oksana’s already vivid red hair behind her ear. “I dread to think what Tony’s got planned”

“Don’t dread, just be excited,” Tony reassured. “It’s going to be fine. You’re going to love it”

“That just makes me more worried,” Natasha teased. “Especially after Pepper told me about the giant rabbit”

Tony looked offended whilst his wife giggled quietly beside him. “That was seven years ago Pep, when will you let me forget about that?”

“Give it at least another seven,” she replied. “Maybe more.” Tony didn’t respond, just pouted slightly. Pepper leant over and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips, the pout quickly disappearing.

“What happened to the rabbit after the mansion was blown up?” Steve asked. He heard the story of the giant cuddly rabbit Tony had gotten Pepper for Christmas many times but had never heard what had happened to it after the mansion had been destroyed.

“He managed to have it retrieved from the rubble,” Rhodey answered. “Pretty sure it’s in storage here”

“We should put it out on display somewhere in the Compound,” Tony suggested.

Pepper laughed for a moment, before realising that Tony was serious. “Tony, no, that’s a crazy idea. Where we would we even put it? And don’t answer that, no matter what you suggest, that _thing_ is not seeing the light of day ever again”

Tony and Pepper continued to bicker over the giant rabbit’s fate as they and a few others crowded around in the kitchen to sort out lunch for everyone.

“I give it a week before that rabbit is on display in the entrance to the visitor’s centre,” Sam joked as he walked past Steve and Bucky.

“Why are they keeping a rabbit in storage?” Bucky quietly asked Steve. “That’s not really fair on the rabbit”

“Don’t worry, it’s not a real rabbit,” Steve reassured. “It’s just a fifteen-foot tall cuddly rabbit that Tony got Pepper for Christmas a few years ago”

“I have so many more questions and I’m not entirely sure I want them answered,” Bucky said as the pair walked over to sit with the rest of the group.

“Any word from Scott, Hope and Nadia?” Wanda asked. “They left in such a rush”

“Nothing yet,” Steve answered.

“Erm, guys,” Peter said, pointing at the TV, which was left playing the news channel in the background. On the screen, a giant figure could be seen rising above a whale-watching boat in San Francisco Bay that was very obviously the Ant-Man suit with what the others could only hope was Scott inside. The screen cut to footage people had posted from their phones. Faintly, they could see a small humanoid shape with wings zip through the crowd, most likely Nadia.

Maggie quickly shot off a text to Hope, not having to wait long before she got a reply. “Hope says she and the baby are at a safe distance, apparently they just need to get the building back from a guy who is on that boat.” A second text came through. “Also, they’re fighting someone named Ghost…”

Maggie trailed off, not sure what to say. Cassie seemed uncomfortable, not knowing what was going on with her father, only knowing that he was in danger.

“I’m sure they’ll be fine,” Lorna said hurriedly as she noticed the look on Cassie’s face. She turned off the TV. “That lot have enough dumb luck on their side to see them through. We’ll hear from them again soon enough”

“Dumb luck? Nadia was raised in the Red Room,” Sam exclaimed.

“And she escaped,” Natasha replied. “Which, let me tell you, is not an easy task.” She looked over at Cassie. “Don’t worry, they’re going to be fine”

Cassie nodded. “Of course they will be, Hope won’t let Daddy do anything too stupid”

***

By the time the X-Men left, the topic of the events in San Francisco were seemingly forgotten, Cassie off playing elsewhere with Lila. Bruce and Natasha were sat on the floor at either end of the sofa, Oksana between them, trying to use the edge of the sofa for support as her parents encouraged her to try and walk between them. Bucky was sat on the sofa opposite, phone ready to record if she started walking.

“You don’t have to do this Bucky,” Natasha said.

“It’s okay, I’m happy to do this for you,” Bucky reassured. “She’s almost there. Besides, not gonna lie, I want to see this as well”

From down the hall, loud shouts began to sound from the direction of Tony and Pepper’s room. Steve took off in a run, checking to make sure that nothing was attacking the Compound. Natasha protectively placed a hand on Oksana, lowering the girl to the floor. After a few moments, Steve’s excited shouts joined Tony and Pepper’s. The three reappeared a few moments later, Steve slightly behind the couple. Tony was hugging Pepper close to his side and grinning wildly, a matching grin on his wife’s face.

“What’s going on?” Natasha asked.

“PEPPER’S PREGNANT!” Tony excitedly announced to the few that were left in the room. People quickly began to reappear as they came to find out what all the noise was about, all quickly joining the couple in their celebrations.

“Guys,” Maggie said as she raced into the room, staring down at her phone. “I just heard from Hope. She says everyone’s okay. Well, Scott and Nadia are a little bruised, but okay. They’re on their way back. Using the quinjet, it’ll only be a few hours until they’re back.” She looked up from her phone, only just noticing that most of the room was crowded around Tony and Pepper. “What’s going on?”

“I’m pregnant,” Pepper replied. Maggie squealed and hugged her friend.

“Bruce, Nat, look,” Bucky exclaimed.

The couple looked back at Oksana just in time to see the girl pull herself back to her feet. She let go of the edge of the sofa and took three shaky steps towards Natasha before dropping back down onto her knees a foot away from her mother.

“You did it!” Natasha gushed. She picked up her daughter and placed her in her lap and pressed several kisses to the top of her head in quick succession. “Bruce, she did it.” Bruce didn’t respond, just grinned at his two girls, reaching over to ruffle Oksana’s short red hair.

“Hey, we can’t see anything through that sofa, funnily enough,” Tony said from the other side of the room. “What happened?”

“Sana just took her first steps,” Bucky explained. “And I got it all on camera”

“You better send us all that video,” Laura said.

“Scott, Hope and Nadia are going to be sorry they missed all of this,” Paxton joked. “They’ll have a lot to catch up on when they get back”

***

It was early evening by the time the others arrived back at the Compound.

“You three have missed a lot today,” Maggie teased without looking up. She looked over and froze. “Wait, what’s going on?”

Everyone turned to look at who had just arrived. Hope was stood holding Andy, Nadia and Scott looking were both stood on either side, both looking very bruised and sore. A young woman wearing the Ghost suit the others recognised from the news footage earlier was stood with the group, wringing her hands awkwardly as she shifted under everyone’s gaze. A final woman with long grey hair who smiled warmly at the room was stood with the group.

Tony stared at her for a few long seconds before a look of realisation spread across his face. “Janet?”

**Author's Note:**

> I have A-Levels this year, so updates are going to be sporadic af, but I will still try to update as often as I can because this is something that I really enjoy (and taking my stress out on fictional characters is actually really helpful)


End file.
